Certification or MBA or PMP

I have been an SAP Basis Senior Consultant for 5 years. I am now a bit confused about which path to move forward.

1) 3 years part time MBA from FMS/IIMs?
2) Certification-> change in designation/TL-> with 8-9 years Exp -> PMP/PMI->IIM C SMP?

Long-term I want to be a freelancer, technically strong and able to explain to customers all the in's and out's of business. As of now I don't see growth. I am planning to do certification NW WAS 700 Oracle, OCA, OCP.

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I just started consulting on a free lance basis (not by choice given the economy, but I've been lucky to get some work in this method). I have an MBA and am a PMP. I would suggest starting with the MBA and then prepare for the PMP soon thereafter. The reason I think an MBA is valuable for PMs is that as the business landscape changes within this "new economy", whatever it ends up becoming, PMs are going to have be able to justify their existence within an organization. Plus, if you are looking to freelance, you will need to have the knowledge and learned skills to adapt to multiple organizational strategies. If you have the requisites to sit for the exams during and/or after you complete the MBA program, don't hesitate to schedule the exam right afterwards. You'll still be in the mindset of studying and preparing for exam.

Hi,
I would say keep trying only and only for IIMB (A,C,B) if you are able to
get into A or C or B then good
else continue with your second option. as your IIMB preparation need
dedicated 3-4 months of hard work.
Rest you can use for certifications and continue you technical work

I agree with Tim, that both an MBA and PMP would be beneficial. I have both, although I am not freelancing. Having both gives me the opportunity to do internal consulting, beyond just managing projects, at the company I work for.

As far as which you should do first goes, though, you don't need your MBA to get your PMP. Take a look at where you are at with regards to getting your PMP. If you are close and feel you can sit for the exam in the next few months, that might be better as it won't significantly delay getting your MBA, whereas completing a 3 year MBA program first puts the PMP at least 3 years away.

Most importantly, look at your job market and your career objectives. Which of your options best support your career objectives? What qualifications does the job market you work in value most? Think about it from both short term and long term perspectives. What course of actions will get you where you want to be the fastest, while giving you the best long term options and opportunities?

What do you mean by you are not seeing growth? If you have strong Technical and Functional knowledge on SAP, you surely would have more value if you mine the existing SAP knowledge.
And also what should actually drive your next step is what you want to be in the coming 5 years, just stating that you want to be a consultant is not really a quantifiable goal. There are umpteen growth potential in anything you take, it is just that you should know where you need to be in the future. All other things would actually follow.

Thank you all for valuable inputs.I have Basis experience in XI,SCM,Duet,BW,R3,NW,ERP.

I am confused with the hierarchy in organizations. One becomes a TL with 6-8 years work exp and manager with 9-12 years work exp.

PMP certification requires some hours of management and i dont have any project handling exp.I have worked as a team member. To lead a project I have to become a TL. Then only i will satisfy the criteria for PMP.Will MBA help me to be a TL... or will certification help me to be a TL?

Next 3 years down the line i look forward delivering the project with a team of 10-15 people. Now how shall i achieve this. I want to be an independent person taking decisions, doing technical stuffs and delivering projects.Also one day run business and bring projects.

You become project manager or a TL based on your knowledge and your GM skills, your certificate or education does not really matter when it comes to delivery of the task at hand. I suggest that you acquire more technical skills in moving forward in the career. PMP is the science of project management. you need to implement and delivery your project properly, it just vouches for that. mba is an overall Skill enhancer cum knowledge enhancer. The decision is going to be yours.

It looks like you are having aspiration to become PM in a very shorter time? etc... and why you need to be a independent person taking decisions?

First I think you must set your GOALS and then move on accordingly. Well in the next 3 years down the time you can become anything TL/PL/PM etc...only things is that you should be proficient in managing interpersonal skills and communication and technical queries, etc.... Also it depends on your type of work/task you are performing, if the client / project required as a TL then you have to be like that only and sell yourself as TL etc...? If you need to satisfy those condition then you need a experience to that. The criteria to become a TL/PM as you mentioned above is not justified. It’s all your technical ability and managing skills. I would say a person like you should grow more into technical in your domain - Never step ahead unless you have a path and experience. Completing xxx number of years means a person does not become a PM or etc..

Senthil,
The market has become to demand a person who has been doing exactly what they want done for the next year, for the past 36 months and can prove it.

Unformatunately the application certifications (Oracle), and the Project Management Certification (which takes a few hundred hours of documenting, studying) seem to mean much more than general problem skills like receiving an MBA.

I think you have to decide if you want to remain a technical person, or technical manager, or which the good one (depending on the part of the country can earn) 100K-300k, or whether you want to be a track toward general management and ultimately running your own company.

Unfortunately, the tactical answer is that without the Oracle, and PMP certificates, many employees (unless you have a connection, or it is your current employer) will not really consider an outsider without these certificicates.

So my advise is the certify, much of what you already know, and then if you are serious about general management, see if you can find a company that will sponsor your MBA at a college like Columbia or Dartmouth, who have execellent programs for managers who are 10-15 years into their career.

I am agree with Raman. Heading a team and delivering a Project is what
leaned from the experience. I have passed from the same phase in my life. I
think you are worried about the current role and then your future promotion
and client handling. At PM level you will be dealing with clients directly
and this is where your real time experience will give you an edge over other
(MBA with little experience)

As far as PMP is concerned, you must go for it now. This is just a
certification and not take much time like MBA. MBA is required when you are
thinking of becoming an CTO or CEO role. PMP will definitely add vaulue in
your MBA profile. Just consider candidates profile of IIMA Executive MBA.
You will find that most of them are PMP.

At last I suggest that you should go for Executive MBA and not part time
MBA. Consider only IIMA,B,C,L and I. No SP jain or etc. etc.

Try to understand for PMP i should have project handling experience. How can I with technical experience of 5 years acn sit for PMP. See SAP has no ending... its a huge open space, like universe. Day by day it changes with new release and versions... the ones who worked on 2.0 B/C ages back and now what we have is 7.11/8.20.

See the huge difference from 1980's till 2010. I dont want technology to run me, but i should run the technology. I mean... I should be ruling/selling my technology to customers for the best of their business.

Now i am short of eligibility criteria. To get that PMP criteria i should have PM exp. Now i am where... where i dont know from where to start.

Note that the project experience that you must have involves working on various project management processes and knowledge areas, as specified in the PMBOK. It would be worth it for you to go through and document your experience with this in mind. You do not necessarily need to have managed the project, but you do need to have managed at least your own work in some aspect of the project. You may be surprised and find that you have enough experience.

That being said, and MBA is a completely different thing. It is truly education in a foundational sense. You will certainly learn a lot earning your PMP, but the learning is more practical in the sense of being oriented to specific functions in the workplace. Education provides a different kind of preparation, and it is broader, emphasizes thinking and concepts, and is less practical. The PMP is a short-medium term project for you, and will give you short to medium term benefits - that can also last into the long term. With an MBA, you will have a long term project, and your ROI is more likely to occur in the long term.

The combination of the two is great, but you need to decide what will best get you where you want to go in the short, medium, and long term.

PM experience from PMP certification point-of-view is meant how you have managed the tasks given to you. May be you can mention your experience as a lead in the project for the various tasks which you have given to colleagues involved in the project or for that matter how you have managed the Quality/Testing in your project or may be you can mention how you have been able to manage Review of different design documents or you can mention how you have were managing communication among your colleagues. So, just to summarize, what is important here is how you were able to manage your roles/responsibilities in different projects which you have executed or involved.

Now, PMP is targeting towards your Project Management skills and MBA is mainly targeting towards managing different functions under business tasks. So, MBA is what is a generalized skill to manage technology/people under business perspective and Project Management is a skill to manage technology/people under project(s) task(s) perspective.

Since you are having experience in SAP, i would suggest you to go for PMP first as a first step and then go for MBA. PMBoK would help you in better understanding the scope, cost, time aspect while handling projects. May be you can choose some specialization in MBA course that may be more relevant w.r.t to your SAP experience, say for example, operations.

I heard that now it is the latest trend in India to do MBA in the west after 5 years of experience. I feel ,it will be much better if you do it after 15 years work exp.

Go to the link to see the Reliance Industries to Offer Full Fellowship For Indian MBA Students at Stanford Business School
the good news is that there will no Indians to compete with you who are based in NA or elsewhere. It's just for Indians(passport holders of India/studying or working in India), no OCI/PIO cards, no Indian Americans/Canadians, even the H1b/GC/PR do not qualify. the bad news is that you will have heavy competition back home. after completion you must return to India, else return the money. take a stab at it and see, there is no harm in trying.

I hope you have an excellent academic grades/awards like outstanding student/best outgoing student might help. I was awarded outstanding student for my masters degree(which my husband jokes that I was standing outside the classrooms for the entire degree program, so was awarded :) hows that.

and a good gmat score(above 750), an excellent reference from your immediate manager saying that you are the prospective CEO/CTO of the company , you just need an MBA (just kidding).

Indian School of Business(ISB) is there stands 12th in ranking. My husband is doing MBA now, he wanted to do it in NA(he says management originated here/case based study etc).

Like some one said in this thread, getting a sponsorship from your employer is very difficult. Do you think any employer would spend 200K on you for tuition fee(mba from ivey leagues) - some % they might cover . the maximum thing they would do is they will give you sabbatical vacation to do 1 year MBA program. Many american employers sponsor for MS programs(in your line of duties) which are comparatively less expensive, provided you keep up the grades. My cousin did MS thru one of them(part time), and took a transfer to India when they started the R&D centre in Bangalore. Thats the right thing, thats the real work ethics/values. our employer sponsor for MS(I don't want to do it again, it will be like double double cheese burger). I thought I can dial 1-800-HUSBAND when i need strategic management advise( i go thru his books and try to grasp the concepts at free of cost - hows my strategy) , I think men are more ambitions than women.

I heard that the Ivy Leagues are planning to set up in India like what Schulich did in India. Many of Virginia Tech/carnegie mellon/Columbia/Yale are planning to set up in India. Good for us too, the best of east and west.

Being a PMP, I strongely encourage anyone in Project/Process/Business Management to obtain the PMP certification. Certainly its not the 'be all' and 'end all' certification, but it certainly supports an underlying understanding of the business processes and functional areas.

In your long term career, you can easily opt to be a freelance Project Manager and/ or a freelance trainer...being PMP certified, depending on what you want to do free-lancing in! :)
For any further help and guidance you may contact me.

Also, though I've already done part-time International MBA from UK, but still thinking of another differential knowledge gain and an another chance to meet experienced professionals from varied domain....I'm planning to do Executive MBA from one of the IIMs after 1-2 years!

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